News Releases

EPA Awards Additional $25K to Brunswick Area Citizens for a Safe Environment

(Boston, Mass. – August 11, 2009) – The Brunswick Area Citizens for a Safe Environment (BACSE) was awarded an additional $25,000 to supplement its existing EPA Technical Assistance Grant for the Naval Air Station Brunswick Superfund Site in Brunswick, Maine.

Recognizing the importance of community involvement and the need for citizens living near Superfund sites to be well informed, EPA awards Technical Assistance Grants to qualified citizen groups to hire independent technical advisors to interpret and help the community understand technical information about their site.

Since 1990, EPA has awarded BACSE a total of $300,000 in technical assistance grant funding. BACSE has provided nearly $110,000 of in-kind contributions, which far exceeds the statutory obligations of the grant. This substantial contribution reflects BACSE’s years of volunteerism and dedication to its efforts to keep local citizens apprised of cleanup issues and to provide the Navy with community input.

This latest grant money will be used by BACSE to continue to employ a consultant to interpret data and help the impacted communities understand the technical information about NAS Brunswick so that they may fully engage in the Superfund process.

BACSE was formed in 1990 to monitor the investigation and remediation of the NAS Brunswick Superfund Site. BACSE works to educate and involve area people in the effort to obtain a safe cleanup at NAS Brunswick. As citizen members of the Restoration Advisory Board (consisting of community representatives and State and Federal regulators), BACSE was formed to advise the Navy on environmental cleanup issues and strategies as NAS Brunswick progresses toward closure as designated under the authority of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act (BRAC).

Past Navy activities (either leaks, spills, or other activities that were acceptable practice at the time) have left behind chemicals in the soil, groundwater, and sediment at certain areas of the Naval Air Station. In 1984, NAS Brunswick was added to EPA’s Superfund program. In total, 26 sites/areas of concern have been identified to date at NAS Brunswick and have been, or are being investigated.